Feed mixing mill

ABSTRACT

A feed processing assembly in which the various components of formulas can be stored, metered and thereafter mixed, processed and conveyed to a storage area, all with a minimum of effort on the part of the operator. More particularly, this device comprises a gravity storage bin with compartments for holding the individual feed components such as corn, barley, oats and the like, each compartment terminating at the lower portion in gate means. Each gate means has a moving regulator for metering varying amounts of the particular feed from the compartment to a receiver which directs the feed to selected sections of a hammer mill with screen outlets of different sizes whereby the texture of the milled feed may be controlled. A conveyor with pivotable augers leads from the hammer mill to a storage area.

United States Patent Marshall F. Hokana Ellendale, N. Dak. 58436 [21]Appl. No. 620,147

[22] Filed Mar. 2, 1967 [45] Patented Jan. 19, 1971 [72] Inventor [54]FEED MIXING MILL 5 Claims, 9 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl 241/60, 222/31 1,241/186 [51] Int. Cl ..B02c 13/06, B02c13/286, B02c 9/00 [50] Field of Search 241/60,

186, 101, 101.8, 73; 222/31 1, 286, 294, 297, 303, 268(Cursory);146/111, 134

Primary ExaminerRobert C. Riordon Assistant Examiner-Donald G. KellyAttorney-Mason, Mason and Albright ABSTRACT: A feed processing assemblyin which the various components of formulas can be stored, metered andthereafter mixed, processed and conveyed to a storage area, all with aminimum of effort on the part of the operator. More particularly, thisdevice comprises a gravity storage bin with compartments for holding theindividual feed components such as corn, barley, oats and the like, eachcompartment terminating at the lower portion in gate means. Each gatemeans has a moving regulator for metering varying amounts of theparticular feed from the compartment to a receiver which directs thefeed to selected sections of a hammer mill with screen outlets ofdifferent sizes whereby the texture of the milled feed may becontrolled. A conveyor with pivotable augers leads from the hammer millto a storage area.

PATENTED JAN 1 9 I97! SHEET 1 0F 4 INVENTO/E MARSHALL F. HOKANA PATENTEUJAN 1 9197i SHEET 2 OF 4 INVENTOR MARSHALL HOKA/VA W w, WWW! PATENTEUJAN] 91% SHEET 3 [IF 4 /N VE N TOR. MA RSHALL E HOKANA 8) 7/111, %M/%%ATTORNEYS PATENTEDJANIQIHYI. SHEENUM 835565418 mvsu'roa MARSHALL F.HOKANA A TOBNEYS FEED MIXING MILL In my copending application Ser. No.354,411 filed Mar. 24, 1964, now US. Pat. No. 3,312,329, I havedescribed a system in which a partitioned gravity tank or bin has aninclined bottom so that a number of feed components can be dispensed tocommon mixing area. The present invention is an improvement on thesystem previously described. particularly in the control of amounts offeed components metered. In its preferred embodiment. the devicedescribed herein includes additional control means for accuratelyregulating the feed mixture as well as a directional auger conveyor fordispensing the mixed product.

In the drawings, which are schematic:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation showing a preferred arrangement of theassembly;

FIG. 1A is a side elevation showing the adjustable feed arrangement(parts have been omitted for clarity);

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a metering roller;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the ejector and meter roller of FIG. 2showing its location relative to the bin and receiver;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the ear corn ejector;

FIG. 5 is a front elevation of the directional auger; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of the auger ofFIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a front elevation of the hammermill of FIG. 1 with partsbroken away.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the sectional screen of the hammermill.I

In FIG. 1 an elevated bin 1 is divided into a plurality of compartmentsby one or more partitions 3.

Bin 1 has an inclined bottom or floor 2 so that each compartmentterminates in gate means, including trap gates 7, at the lower portionof the compartments.

The gates 7 as well as the configuration of the partitioned bin 1 can bethe same as those seen in FIGS. 1-3 in copending application Ser. No.354,41 1

Immediately in front of each trap gate 7 is a meter roller 9 adjacenteach trap gate with individual adjustable covers 8.

Each roller 9 is driven from a common sprocket l1 and shaft 12.

As seen in FIGS; 2 and 3, each roller is provided with sliding covers 8which can be manually shifted with knobs 10. The shaft 12 has aplurality of vanes 13 for urging the dispensed feed components to areceiving area 15. Included within the gate means is a trough 14 forreceiving rollers 9. It will be undeustood that, depending on the amountof exposure given roller 9 by covers 8, feed components are individuallydispensed into receiver 15. i

In one of the chambers of bin 1, ears of corn can be stored and an earcorn ejector used to facilitate the removal of com cars from bin 1 toconventional rollers 9. As seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, ejector 101 issupported on floor 2 of the bin 1. Ejector 101 has a plurality oftriangular-shaped fins 103 on rod 105. Red 105 is moved back and forthby disc 109 which is rotated by shaft 110 and sprocket 111. A series ofstuds 113 are provided on disc 109 that fit into a corresponding hole inrod 105. Depending on the stud l 13 selected, theejectors fins 103 arereciprocated back and forth more or less so that com ears are urgeddownwards towards gate 7. A U-shaped bracket 107 bolted to floor 2guides the rod 105 during reciprocation.

From receiver 15, the components flow by gravity into intake spout orreceiver 17 of hammer mill 20. The intake spout or receiver 17 leadsinto a casing 21 housing a conventional hammer mill 20 with blades 201(FIG. 7) capable of about 2,400 r.p.m with a sectional screen 203 whichcan be provided with openings of varying sizes in sections 204, 205 and206 (FIG. 8) The mill 20 with such a screen affords the operatoradditional control of the varieties of grain as to texture. Also, intakespout 17 can be made adjustable to lead into that section of the screenso that a regulated flow of feed materials to that section of the screenwill take place. For example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 1A, a handwheel207 on a shaft 208 may threadably engage spout or receiver 17 so thatthe feed path can be adjustably varied as it passes through opening 209in casing 21 to feed material selectively to any of the screen sectionstherebelow. Receiver 17 can be. adapted to slide by means of a tongue210 and slot 211 arrangement. Still further,

dividers within the hammer mill between hammers can be used to the endthat additional control is realized.

At the bottom of the mill, an auger 25 collects the mixed and groundfeed and urges same into a fan chamber 36 in which fan 27 flows the feed(now in scmidust form) upwardly through duct 29 and then into a storageor collector tank 31. The bottom of tank 31 has an opening 32 which isfitted with a swivel nozzle 34.

Positioned directly to the rear of hammer mill 20 is a cylindricalcasing 38 housing a conveyor assembly with pivotable augers. Theassembly includes two screw conveyors 47 and 49 (FIGS. 5 and 6) housedwithin casings 4'3 and 45 respectively. Casing 43 telescopes withincasing 38. Casing 38 has an intake 81 at the lower section of the hammermill 20 so that processed feed can be moved by any conventional means,eg. an auger, directly from the hammer mill if desired. Opening 89 incasing 43 extends in the side and part of the bottom of the casing. Asshown in the drawings, an extension duct 34' is fitted on nozzle 34 sothat the storage or collector tank 31 can be connected to the inlet 81of casing 38 and processed feed allowed to flow by gravity to auger 47.It will be understood that casing 43 is open at its bottom and side at89 to receive processed feed regardless of the telescoped position ofcasing 43.

In FIGS. 5 and 6 it will be noted that casing 43 and casing 45 open intoeach other at their juncture. exposing augers 47 and 49 to one another.Auger 47 is powered by shaft 50 with sprocket 51 being connectable to asource of power, preferably to the hammer mill drive.

As shaft 50 is rotated, shaft 56 is turned through cone gears 53 and 54so that sprocket 57 turns shaft 60 through sprocket 59 and endless chain58. Similarly, shaft 68 is rotated via sprockets 61 and 62, connected byendless chain 63 which rotates shaft 69 and meshing cone gears 65 and66.

It will be seen that augers 47 and 49 are rotated about shafts 50 and 68which are housed in casings 43 and 45 respectively. The casings 43 and45 are connected with a band and groove joint so that one casing can beturned relative to the other. Also, the casing 43 is turnable withcasing 38 so that auger 49 can be moved into any direction. An offcenteror angle blade can be fitted within casings 43 and 45 to guide materialfrom auger 47 to auger 49. The casings 43 and 45 can be moved manuallyor by a lift using handles and 97, respectively.

The foregoing embodiment has been described for illustrative purposesonly and variations of this embodiment will no doubt occur to thoseskilled in the art.

lclaim:

l. A feed processing assembly, comprising a gravity feed tank having aninclined bottom, said tank being compartmented into a plurality of feedcompartments, each comparement terminating in gate means in theirlowermost portions, said gate means including an exit in said tank and arotatabie metering roller with vanes positioned adjacent said exit, saidmetering roller having a trough extending along the bottom thereof to atleast partially enclose same, sleeve means at least partly surroundingsaid roller for controlling the amount of feed dispensed from saidcompartments, receiving means positioned below said gate means, saidreceiving means leading into a hammer mill for mixing and grinding saidfeed, and conveyor means for removing the feed from said hammer mill toa storage area, said hammer mill being associated with a sectionalscreen having outlets of varying sizes, receiving means for directingfeed to that portion of said screen having the desired openings.

2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said conveyor means is an exhaustfan within a substantially vertical tube and said tube leads to acollector tank.

3. The assembly of claim 2, wherein a directional auger is positioned toreceive material from said fan, said auger including two substantiallyenclosed screw conveyors which are veyors being pivotable relative tothe other conveyor adjacent their naturally exposed portions wherebyfeed can be directed in different directions.

5. The assembly of claim 1, wherein rotary corn ejector means iseccentrically mounted in one of said compartments adjacent its exit.

1. A feed processing assembly, comprising a gravity feed tank having aninclined bottom, said tank being compartmented into a plurality of feedcompartments, each compartment terminating in gate means in theirlowermost portions, said gate means including an exit in said tank and arotatable metering roller with vanes positioned adjacent said exit, saidmetering roller having a trough extending along the bottom thereof to atleast partially enclose same, sleeve means at least partly surroundingsaid roller for controlling the amount of feed dispensed from saidcompartments, receiving means positioned below said gate means, saidreceiving means leading into a hammer mill for mixing and grinding saidfeed, and conveyor means for removing the feed from said hammer mill toa storage area, said hammer mill being associated with a sectionalscreen having outlets of varying sizes, receiving means for directingfeed to that portion of said screen having the desired openings.
 2. Theassembly of claim 1, wherein said conveyor means is an exhaust fanwithin a substantially vertical tube and said tube leads to a collectortank.
 3. The assembly of claim 2, wherein a directional auger ispositioned to receive material from said fan, said auger including twosubstantially enclosed screw conveyors which are joined with portionsexposed to one another adjacent their ends, one of said conveyors beingpivotable relative to the other conveyor adjacent their exposed portionswhereby processed feed can be directed in different directions.
 4. Theassembly of claim 1, wherein said conveyor means includes a directionalauger, said auger including two substantially enclosed screw conveyorswhich are joined with portions exposed to one another adjacent theirends, one of said conveyors being pivotable relative to the otherconveyor adjacent their naturally exposed portions whereby feed can bedirected in different directions.
 5. The assembly of claim 1, whereinrotary corn ejector means is eccentrically mounted in one of saidcompartments adjacent its exit.